Question of the Day

Does President Trump need to fire more Cabinet members?

With Republican candidates dazed and the conservative base confused, President Bush immediately should invite every Republican congressional incumbent and challenger to a White House pep talk.

As cameras transmit his message, here’s what he should say:

My fellow Republicans:

On Nov. 7, our fellow Americans will decide who controls Congress through 2008. As they weigh their choices, they should hear none of us wallow in defeatism. Instead, they should hear our confident message: America needs more Republicans on Capitol Hill, not just those there today.

Americans have been appropriately shocked by the Mark Foley scandal. Well, he’s gone. Investigations are under way. And anyone who covered Mr. Foley’s tracks will be gone, too, whoever they may be.

We now must look ahead and self-assuredly lead the American public. We should be proud of an economy that booms because of our growth-oriented tax policies:

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has crossed the 12,000-point threshold. Wall Street is bullish on America. The burgeoning investor class, the 53 percent of Americans who own stocks, enjoys higher returns on mutual funds and 401(k)s.

Unemployment is just 4.6 percent, a five-year low. Republican incentives helped create 7 million new jobs since January 2001.

At 2.1 percent, 12-month inflation is tame.

Average gasoline prices hit $3.04 per gallon last summer. The average now is $2.23, and falling.

Fiscal 2006’s deficit fell to $248 billion. We pledged to halve fiscal 2004’s $521 billion deficit by fiscal 2009. Democrats laughed. As we promised, tax cuts stimulated the economy, and revenues flooded the Treasury. We bisected the deficit three years early.

Confronting terrorists in Afghanistan and Iraq, harnessing the Patriot Act and Terrorist Surveillance Program, and interrogating captured Islamic terrorists all have kept America free from terrorist attacks since September 11, 2001.

Nevertheless, we have work to do:

We must win the War on Terror. Too many Democrats scorn the Patriot Act, Guantanamo, interrogation and surveillance, but our firm hand will crush the terrorists.

We must win the Afghan and Iraqi fronts in this war. Yes, we are sacrificing precious blood and treasure there. But waving a white flag in Iraq will merit our enemies’ scorn and amplify their hatred.

We also must keep Iran and North Korea nuke-free.

At home, we must make our temporary tax cuts permanent.

The death tax, which will resurrect itself from 0 percent in 2010 to 55 percent in 2011, instead must stay buried for good.

Taxes should be reduced and further simplified, so Americans can retain more of their earnings, and the United States can keep leading Earth’s economy. We should offer Americans a totally optional flat tax.

A line-item veto will help me restrain Congress’ more excessive spending impulses.

After the Supreme Court’s disastrous Kelo v. New London decision, Americans correctly worry that eminent domain could hand their property to private parties for private purposes. Barring federal dollars from such schemes would discourage such outrages.

Social Security still needs modernization. As Republicans Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin propose, investing the Social Security surplus in voluntary personal accounts will shield it from congressional appropriators without jeopardizing a dime owed to current or future retirees.

These positive, visionary ideas will enhance American security and prosperity. I need even more Republicans to enact even better pro-freedom legislation. We can bolster our achievements by electing even more Republicans who share our Reaganesque philosophy.

We still have more than two weeks. I need you to explain our solid record and our optimistic ideas to America’s voters. I will campaign nonstop with as many of you as would like — even challengers in long-shot races. We concede nothing to the Democrats. If we widen our majorities, imagine what we can accomplish for the American people. If we maintain today’s strength, we lose nothing. And if this bold strategy fails — though I believe it will succeed — we still will hold our heads high knowing we stood up and sang America a song about hope.

That’s what we do. After all, we’re Republicans.

Deroy Murdock is a columnist with the Scripps Howard News Service and a media fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.

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